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Friday, 28 April 2006

Living it up in the DPRK

Good satire. "Light relief for the weekend." That's how Owen McShane describes this fun-filled travelogue of North Korea from three wide-eyed young humourists entering this delightful workers' paradise from the 'outside world.' The scene is set beautifully:

Upon arriving at Pyongyang airport you realise exactly where you are. The proud, smiling face of the former ‘Great Leader’ Kim Il Sung’s portrait hangs above the only, relatively small and calm terminal. On each side of the airport runway, peasant farmers tend to dry fields which have only recently defrosted after a long, freezing winter...

Oh. My. God. :"The DPRK is a land of the past. The culture, as with most of the worlds, is based on the glorification of the past heroic actions of its people and its leaders. The city of Pyongyang was a well thought out plan; it has a metro system and an exceptionally designed road system- qualities Auckland City Council could learn a lot from. From Pyongyang to the cooperative farms across the countryside, the place was a meticulously constructed plan for a Socialist state."

Pity about the people though. Oh well, can't have everything if you're a happy little control freak socialist politics student.

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